editor@yourmonthlypaper.com
August 2014 Danville Hot Summer Nights: Celebrating Classic Community Fun By Jody Morgan
In 1994, three friends decided to share their love of classic automobiles with fellow enthusiasts by staging a series of car shows. Initially the Danville Hot Summer Nights Hot Rod and Classic Car Show was held four times each year, but a half dozen years ago the decision was made to concentrate on two outstanding 300+ Classic Cars are displayed along Hartz Avenue and side streets where productions each sum- visitors can also pause for good food, music and kid-friendly activities. mer. Thanks to the tireless efforts of a core team of volunteers, the show has evolved into a favorite family pastime. Showcasing downtown restaurants and retailers as well as local non-profits to crowds of as many as 15,000 spectators, Danville Hot Summer Nights Car Show, open free to the public, generates an old-fashioned sense of community spirit with a totally contemporary flair. If you didn’t get a chance to catch the action on July 17th, the second 2014 show on August 14th runs from 4PM – 9PM with live music, food and kid-friendly activities complementing the display of hundreds of classic cars. David Miller, who characterizes himself as the “bandleader” of the group that orchestrates the show, extols Danville’s virtues as a venue. He notes that the historic buildings make an ideal backdrop. Seeing the same models of cars parked in front of buildings today that would have been parked there when the buildings were built is like turning back the hands of time. “It is a breath taking experience to observe a quite sleepy little town Lou Marchiorlatti, Linda Mannina and David Miller lead the transform within two hours team of 50+ Danville Hot Summer Nights Car Show volunteers. into an amazing mega event with more than 300 gorgeous show cars pulling into our town and more than 15,000 visiting guests enjoying a wonderful and safe family night out on the town.” A key member of the organization for almost 20 years, Lou Marchiorlatti handles the registration and staging of all the show cars before they are released for placement on Hartz Avenue. Miller’s admiration for Marchiorlatti’s dedication is evident. “His contribution during the year helps to make the show the enormous success that it is.” Linda Mannina not only designs the vendor placement, but she also interfaces with all volunteers and vendors during the event to make sure any problem that arises is corrected immediately. Asked what keeps her involved, Mannina writes: “After the hours of preparation, the nights of discussions and sleepless nights wondering if we will be able to pull it off in time, when that first car comes down the street and you see not only
See Nights continued on page 24
Local Postal Customer
PRSRT STD U.S. Postage PAID Permit 263 Alamo CA
ECRWSS
Serving Danville Volunteers Needed for Event to Help Bay Area Homeless Veterans in September
Organizers of the East Bay Stand Down (EBSD) 2014 are in the final stages of planning a major initiative to help up to 450 homeless and displaced veterans and their families, and are looking to recruit over 2,000 volunteers to help. This large-scale community program will take place at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton from September 11 - 14. Concerned citizens with various skills and abilities are needed to support the operation of the four-day “tent city.” “Stand Down” is a term used during war to describe the practice of removing combat troops from the field and taking care of their basic needs in a safe area, and this same concept has been successfully used to provide assistance to veterans who are in need. Many of these veterans are suffering from physical and mental injuries, sometimes both, suffered while in service to our country. A wide variety of voluntary positions are still needed, especially
All veterans live at East Bay Stand Down for four days.
prior-to the start of EBSD for physical labor in setting-up and maintaining the “tent-city” encampment. Volunteers are also needed after the event to break down camp and to perform many other support functions
See Stand continued on page 11
O’Neill Festival Celebrates the Art of the Escape The 15th Eugene O’Neill Festival gets underway in early September with a series of theatre productions and events honoring the only American playwright to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and to receive four Pulitzer Prizes for his works. This fall the Eugene O’Neill Festival focuses on the human yearning for escape. The Iceman Cometh and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof represent two of America’s most celebrated playwrights at the height of their dramatic powers. In these masterpieces, Eugene O’Neill and Tennessee Williams reveal what we all experience when the stories we tell ourselves are challenged. At the intersection of truth and fiction, we all struggle to determine what role illusions play in our lives. During the month-long O’Neill Festival, additional events further explore “The Art
See Escape continued on page 22
Volume V - Number 10 3000F Danville Blvd. #117, Alamo, CA 94507 (925) 405-6397 Fax (925) 406-0547 Alisa Corstorphine ~ Publisher editor@ yourmonthlypaper.com The opinions expressed herein belong to the writers, and do not necessarily reflect that of Danville Today News. Danville Today News is not responsible for the content of any of the advertising herein, nor does publication imply endorsement.